Building and Riding a $12 Million MTB Trail 3

The Pike 29 Memorial Track was built by mountain bikers for mountain bikers. It is the first ever dedicated mountain bike track to pass through a national park in New Zealand and is the country’s first ever “Great Ride”. As well as an MTB trail, it accommodates walkers and forms the 10th addition to New Zealand’s “Great Walks” trail system and is the first to be built in a generation.

Passing through the rugged and storm battered Paparoa Mountains on New Zealand’s West Coast, it connects with the Paparoa Track and descends down to the Pike River Mine which was the scene of the 2010 mining disaster that killed 29 men.

From the highest point on the track there is an uninterrupted and flowing 8.5km descent down a well formed track to the Pike River at its base. Not a single peddle needs to be put in the whole way down.

This video is a sneak preview by the trail builders showing off our creation with the first ever ride through of the track. The video also documents a few of the secret features that we snuck in during the build.

Building the Pike 29 Memorial Track video:

Pike Hit List:

1. No Peddle Challenge (7.8km)
2. Ridge Wall Ride (6.2km) 
3. Small Jump (4.5km)
4. Bigger Jump (4.5km)
5. Small Hip (4.3km)
6. Fuchsia Gully & Small Wall Ride (3.8km)
7. Small Hip (3.5km)
8. Rock Roll (3.3km)
9. Hip Jump (3.1km)
10. Berm to Berm Jump (2.7km)
11. No Peddle Challenge (2.6km)
12. Double Berm Wall Ride (3.2km)
13. Wall Ride (2km)
14. Rock Roll (1.9km)
15. No Brake Challenge (1.8km)

More Information:

Article about building the track

Article about making the video

Trail proposal document